The Black & Hispanic/Latino Male Teachers Initiative Networked Improvement Communityis AACTE’s first “Networked Improvement Community,” or NIC. NICs are characterized by their focus on a well-defined common aim, their deep understanding of a problem and the system that produces it, their disciplined application of improvement science to the problem, and its network of participants. The network accelerates the development, testing, and refining of interventions then spreads those interventions into a variety of contexts. Learn more about NICs from the Carnegie Foundation’s web site.

The goal of this initiative is to help institutions by identifying innovative and proven strategies to increase the percentage of Black and Hispanic/Latino men receiving initial teaching certification through education preparation programs.

In 2014, AACTE invited member institutions to submit applications to join the initiative, which was then known as the Changing the Demographic Makeup of the Teaching Workforce NIC. In response, more than 50 member institutions in 25 states applied to be a part of this inaugural NIC and following a rigorous review by the AACTE Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability, the following institutions were selected and have developed dedicated teams to engage in this critical work:

Boston University

California State University Fullerton

Florida Atlantic University

MidAmerica Nazarene University

Northeastern Illinois University

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

University of Connecticut

University of Saint Thomas

Western Kentucky University

William Paterson University of New Jersey

Nearly 80% of PK-12 teachers are White, middle-class women. The PK-12 student population is much more diverse; almost 45% of students are non-White. While there has been an increase in the number of minority male teachers in the workforce, the number of minority students has shown a greater increase in over the same period. This growth has also not been equally distributed across different types of schools. More than 40% of public schools have no teachers of color at all. In 2009-2010, of all the bachelor’s degrees awarded to teacher candidates by AACTE member institutions, only 6% went to Black candidates, and about 4% went to Hispanic candidates.

As the profession moves to reorient itself more closely around the needs of the education workforce, there is significant need to develop programs’ capacity to meet schools’ needs. As a part of the capacity building component of the Innovation Exchange, the The Black & Hispanic/Latino Male Teachers Initiative NIC will support research and improvement to meet the demographic imperative of increasing the recruitment and retention of Black and Hispanic/Latino Males into the teaching workforce.